Saturday, December 24, 2011

Here is Peach & Blue on it's box. I found the perfect Mill Hill Glass Seed Beads & got them on yesterday. I added a few more than called for, specifically in the very center. This pretty box goes to it's intended recipient this afternoon!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Here we are in our Reno house! Christmas is fast approaching & I just finished this last night - it is the last of the stitched gifts. Yay!! It still needs a few beads,but if I can't get them in time it will be fine without the beads. This will be a top for a brown Betsy Box.

This is a Rainbow Gallery freebie by June Moes, called "Peach and Blue". Well, I changed everything! Not just the colors this time. I used Leventine Blue canvas (instead of white) and changed all the threads & colors, AND "adjusted" a few of the stitches! But I was able to stitch this completely from stash!

I used 2 Watercolours 018 and 189 (instead of Bravo), Frosty Rays Y045 (instead of Flair), #8 perle 3560 & 807(instead of Pebbly Perle), and #8 Kreinik 273 which wasn't called for at all. Because my threads are mostly heavier than those that were called for, I had to make some adjustments to some of the stitches. The biggest change was to the outer border, The design called for alternating the Scotch stitches with a cross stitch variation. I didn't care for the way it looked, so I just did alternating Scotches instead. I really like the way it looks that way!﻿

Saturday, December 17, 2011

This is the last of the small squares. It is about an inch larger than the ones I've been doing. I couldn't quickly find a pattern the right size, so I used a small version of my Interactive Ribbons pattern. I'm very pleased with the result! I haven't fastened it down yet, so it needs to be adjusted a little inside the frame so there aren't any bits of canvas showing.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Here are some of my finished little door hangers. They are just right to hang on a door knob. The fabric "frames" are prefinished items that I got at my LNS. All you do is stick in the finished needlework & then I use a little Stitch Witchery to make sure the edges of the fabric stay down. Takes just a few minutes with a steam iron & you're done!

The bottom right one is a cross stitch that I did several years ago. Turns out it fit just right in the brown fabric frame & will make a perfect gift for a friend. The other three, also gifts, you have seen before being "finished".

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Here's another of the little squares I did for Christmas gifts. I finished this several weeks ago, but couldn't show it to you because the intended recipient watches Blog closely!

The pattern is by Pine Glen Designs and is a cross stitch pattern. I should have done it in cross stitch! There are a lot of partial stitches and that makes adapting it to needlepoint difficult. I would have been better off if I had studied the photo more, rather than sticking to the chart! I used Alpaca AL51 & AL64 and Watercolours 165 & 171 for the cats. The background is a mix of #5 perle cotton and Watercolours 067. The metallic dark green is FyreWerks FT27. To make the stitching go faster, I used Mosaic in the center square and 3 sizes of Scotch till it was the right size.

The adaptation isn't perfect, but I think it turned out cute nonetheless! Here it is all made up. My friend loved it!

Friday, December 9, 2011

﻿Mystery #2 is finished and this may be the last of the squares. I'm not sure, maybe one more.

Laura did this mystery in 2 installments and there were more decision points than the first one. I elected to do two rows of the "checkerboard" and added a 2nd border so that it would finish up to be the size I wanted. Pretty huh?

Monday, December 5, 2011

Finished another one! This one is adapted from a Teresa Wentzler cross stitch design in her Best of Teresa Wentzler Christmas Collection﻿. It was harder to adapt than I expected due to using 18-count canvas instead of one of the fabrics. I had to do some careful counting & adjusting! But it turned out pretty I think. I used 3 #12 Kreinik braids, 002, 153V and 018HL plus Rainbow Tweed RT61 for the overdye. When I get this one and a couple others all mounted & ready to go, I'll post another photo.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

I have decided to stitch up a few small pieces to be finished as little hanging things for Xmas gifts. Color Delights--Ice is my 3rd finish. The first 2 are the Laura Perin Mystery and the Kitty in the Stocking (which I am keeping for myself!). I have about 6 more kitted up!

This pretty piece is 4"x4". Naturally I changed the colors! I used Watercolours and Waterlilies in #034, Impressions 2039, Neon Rays Plus NF62 and Watercolours 116. This one took a little longer than some as there are a lot of Tent stitches. Below is my finished version.

I will show it again when it is made up - but that will not be till after Christmas. This particular one, I was unable to find a prefinished gizmo in these colors, and I know I have just the right fabric up in my Reno house. I'll raid that stash when we are up there over the Holidays.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Oh Boy! The third quadrant of Twister is finished! Only one more quadrant and it will be over. I will not be able to finish it by the end of the year as I had hoped, but it shouldn't be much after that!

Twister is really a fun project, but HUGE. If I were to do it again (bite your tongue Liz!) I would change the colors, probably add some metallic & overdyes.

To any of you that are planning to stitch Twister, I recommend basting in the outlines of the areas first. I did not draw anything on the canvas except the vertical & horizontal center lines & I wish I had basted those instead. Here is what the whole thing looks like now:

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

We are 3/4 finished with Stars! Only 3 more squares & the remaining border to do. I wish we could finish by the end of the year but I don't think that's gonna happen!

Ava Gardner is a pretty square isn't she? Tony tricked me though: I was excited to be done with the Trebizond, only to be confronted with Patina for this square. I hate rayon thread! Looks pretty though. Anyway, Ava is done & I also completed all of the little squares between the sashings.

Be sure to check Jan's progress as well. Such fun that these two are so different! Below is my total piece to date:

Monday, November 21, 2011

Just to take a break from my usual stitching projects, I decided to stitch up this little painted canvas I had in stash. I don't remember where I got it, but with the background I added, it is just 4-1/2" square. I stitched the whole thing last week in about 3-4 sessions.

The kitty is Petite Very Velvet, V666 and V647. The stocking is Mosaic stitch in red Neon Rays N20 with white cross stitches also in Neon Rays, N92. The cuff of the stocking is in Arctic Rays, AR2 and AR8 and I really like the dimension it gives the whole piece, stitched just in long stitches. There's a little ornament in Kreinik gold & silver. The "floor" is a large Brick stitch in Needle Necessities 128. The background is a zig zag & alternates NN 1732 & 1121.

This makes a really cute little door hanger mounted in the Stitch A Gift thingy I already had. The whole thing was done from stash! Next time I have the iron out, I'll Stitch Witch the edges down!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

I had a lot of fun stitching these models which were actually stitched some time ago. These are good examples of "simple" Mad Miters. The information for this ANG CyberPointers Chapter workshop is listed now on their website along with other upcoming workshops. They are announcing workshops quite far ahead now so that you can plan your time & expenses!﻿ Registration for Mad Miters doesn't begin until April 2012.I will have more models to show you later on! There are so many possibilities that can be achieved with this technique!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The third quadrant of Twister is moving right along. I completed the rest of the gray area and got 2 small sections of the red finished this past Sunday! Two more Sunday's and I should have this quadrant done & will be on the home stretch.﻿

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Gregory Peck was a pretty easy stitch. The only real problem I had was making a mistake! And the bright turquoise is stitched in Trebizond & I don't care for that thread; however, this is the last place it is used, so I can forget about it! I like the way the center "star" turned out. After I finish the next square, Ava Gardener, I will fill in all the little squares in the sashing!
Be sure to check Thread Medley for Jan's version.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Thanks to Jane at Chilly Hollow, I learned that Laura Perin is doing a Mini Mystery Monday project on her blog. I jumped right in, pulled threads & canvas from stash, & emailed some of my stitchy friends to join me!Here is the result of Week One which only took about 2 hours, including finding center & starting wrong! I love a mystery!My canvas is gray, it kind of looks like sage green, but I'm pretty sure it is gray. My Watercolour is #211 Cucumber, my #5 Pearls are 890 & 966 and my metallic ribbon is FyreWerks FT52. See below for pic of materials.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Finally, a full Sunday of Twister! Now that all the basting is done, this quadrant should go quickly. Not quickly enough though! I figure 3-4 more Sundays to finish this quadrant! Then there's a whole other quadrant to do! I don't think I'll be able to finish by the end of the year. Rats!Anyway, I completed 3 gray sections last Sunday. I messed up the middle section & had to rip out a bunch: I had accidentally picked up the wrong color & it took awhile to notice. I was NOT a happy camper! It got all fixed, but I had to stay up "late" to finish the 3rd section.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Here is the next New Bargello. It is presently called Twisted Ribbons, but if I can come up with another name, it will be changed.﻿ The inspiration for this piece is a necklace that belongs to a friend of mine. The necklace is twisted "chains" in different metallic colors.

Twisted Ribbons is all Metallics, except for the background which will be mostly Neon Rays and maybe a little overdyed floss. The background, which I have barely begun, will be all cables like you see on the far right. There are actually 5 different threads in the black section, but they don't really show up. If I publish this design, I will simplify the black. It is hard to get the metallic effect in a photograph (at least for me), but it is looking great & I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

Friday, November 4, 2011

This month's stitch, Reverse Sprats Head, gave me a little trouble. I did one quarter, then attempted to do the other section of the same color. Well, I counted wrong and it was off by one row & looked awful! So I ripped the whole thing out and basted in the vertical & horizontal center lines. I highly recommend doing that! My next attempt just flew and it was accurate too!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Hi again! I'm back from San Diego and ready to get to work. As promised, I have published a new Free Design on my website. Go to the Free Design page, and scroll down. The new design, Christmas Angel, is just below the Small Things. Click on her and you will get a .pdf file that you can save or print. She is suitable for needlepoint or cross stitch, works up quickly and is really cute!

Thanks to all of you for making my Blog (3 years now!) and website successful and fun!

Monday, October 24, 2011

I know, I haven't been posting much lately. Lots going on: I'm working on several new Bargello designs, but none are anywhere near ready to show you; haven't touched Stars since I finished Deborah Kerr; still working on a pilot for Ro Pace; I did work on Twister a bit today, but just got the remaining sections basted in, no stitching to show.

I couple of things to report: This Blog is now 3 years old and my website has turned 10,000 hits. I can't believe it. Thanks to all of you for keeping me interested! When things settle down, I'll be adding a new freebie on my website as a thank you. I'll let you know when that happens.

On top of everything else, my mother passed away recently and I will be going to San Diego to help my brother go through her things. Not a pleasant task.

So here's the promise: It will probably be at least a week, maybe more, before I can post again, but when I do I should have some fun things to show you! Thanks for being patient and have a fun Halloween if I don't get back by then!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I've been stitching away though. I'm working on a couple of new Bargello designs as well as Stars.

Deborah Kerr is finished. This is the first square in the 3rd row. It turned out nice I think. The outlining was supposed to be in one of the aquas, but I chose a copper Kreinik metallic instead. It looks better I think than the aqua would have.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The third quadrant of Twister is now 1/2 done! Actually it's a little more than half cause the center square won't repeat. This is going faster now it seems. Maybe I have a better feel for it or something. I still hope to finish it by the end of the year, but that might be wishful thinking!﻿

Saturday, October 1, 2011

I've actually made more progress than I thought on my crazy Fractal project! I've changed my attack some, trying to complete more or less 10 rows across before moving down. It isn't exactly 10, but close enough. This seems to give me better control over the counting and progress at least appears to be more rapid. It's beginning to look kinda cool!﻿

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Cary Grant is finished. I like this one pretty well. I am just enchanted with Tony's layered stitches. Each one is a surprise that isn't fully revealed until the stitch is complete. In this square, I particularly like the long triangles in the corners. Don't forget to check out Jan's version too!Here's the whole thing so far. Oh look, I'm half way there! I have decided to wait & do all the sashing corners at once at the end.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Malachite Maze is finished! Well, the jewels aren't really fastened on because I don't want to glue them down until after the piece is framed. So I laid it on a chair & tried to position the jewels for the photo. As you have probably noticed, they aren't quite straight! Oh well! (By the way, the square outline and the border are very dark green, not black).﻿

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I have gotten quite a lot done on Malachite Maze. I worked on it a lot while we were in Reno and have kind of been concentrating on it this week. I'd like to get it done by the end of this month. I've had a few counting issues (senior moments!), but only one involved ripping! I found another last night, but it can easily be fixed. I think I'm going to take out the bright gold Neon Rays in the lower right corner & replace it with gold FyreWerks; the Neon Rays is just too bright! But, the end is in sight now. When I finish the lower left corner I will do all the circles, which I think are giant eyelets and then there is a border all the way around. The end is in sight!﻿

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Got back to Twister Sunday this week! Accomplished quite a bit, 3 sections of the gray and 4 sections of the red are done now. Next week I'm going to have to do a bunch more basting. I'm finding that on a non-basting Sunday, I can get 3-4 sections done in a day. Not bad!!! I'm still hoping to complete this by the end of the year, but that might be wishful thinking! Here's what it looks like so far:

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Here is my SOTM for September - the Double Fan Doubled. This is a stitch that I have done before & always grit my teeth to do it! I agree with many other posts about it that it is easier if you put a pin in the center to "wrap around", at least till you get a good start on it. My threads for this are Needle Necessities 125 and ThreadWorx 10311.﻿

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mediterranean Tile is finally framed. I decided to just go with a very simple mat & frame so that the "tile" would really stand out. The mat is a tan suede and the frame is a simple goldish-coppery metal.This is a Ro Pace design & I hope she will like it (she hasn't seen it yet).﻿

Monday, September 12, 2011

Four Way 4-Way, Summer, is finished! Thanks to a loyal follower who sent me the remains of the Watercolour that I ran out of, in the correct dye lot! At the end, I had about 20" of that thread left! Whew! The upper right and lower left quarters are identical, except the color sequence is reversed. The other 2 quarters are identical except for the color sequence changes. It still amazes me how much those little things can change something!the very center of the piece is just filled with Watercolour following the pattern as it developed to that point. I wanted the four quarters to be focal, not the center.﻿

Friday, September 9, 2011

Eva Marie Saint is finished. This is my least favorite square so far. When it was finished, I though it looked really bland & blah, so I added some backstitching in copper metallic along the lines of the center "star". That helped a little. I didn't quite finish the sashing around it. These pictures aren't as good as usual cause I didn't bring the "good" camera along to Reno. I just have the old little one & it sure doesn't take as good pictures!

Anyway, here is progress so far:

Be sure to look at Jan's progress as well. It is so fun to see the differences!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Here is the completed Aqua/Silver Mad Miters. I had a lot of fun stitching this model and really like it! Confession time: I actually stitched this some time ago but couldn't show it to you until the ANG CyberPointers Chapter announced the workshop. It is listed now on their website along with other upcoming workshops. They are announcing workshops quite far ahead now so that you can plan your time & expenses!﻿ Registration for Mad Miters doesn't begin until April 2012.I will have more models to show you later on! This is only one of many possibilities for this class.

About Me

I am an avid needlepointer. I have had designs published in Needlepoint Now. I am always working on new designs to sell and online classes to teach. Please visit my website at www.lizartneedlepoint.com. The only thing I like to do as much as stitch is dance! My husband and I are ballroom & WCS dancers.